YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE #4

WORD 2day: 5th December, 2014

First Friday of Advent

Is 29: 17-34; Mt 9: 27-31

Seeing is a gift, a great gift indeed. 

Not seeing is a sad thing. It is difficult to really understand where we are and what is around us! We would not know the imminent danger and we would be unaware of the risk that lies at the next step. 

If 'not seeing' is a sad thing, not knowing that you cannot see is still worse! It is more dangerous than not seeing...because when you know you cannot see, you will learn to be cautious; you will feel like getting help; you will know that you are vulnerable.

When you do not know that you cannot see, you think that you see everything, when in fact you do not see! It is a dangerous situation and you are all the more vulnerable. You would be treading a risky path but you will never know when you will be trapped. There will be help available just beside you, but you will not make use of it, because you wouldn't think you need it.

The Lord is our light and he is there right beside us - both in person and in and through other persons! Depends on us to cry out: "Son of David, have mercy on us!" Let us then pray for a threefold grace: to know it when we are unable to see; to know that there is just beside us the Lord, who is the light; and that we may see!

WORD 2day: 4th December, 2014

First Thursday of the Advent

Is 26:1-6; Mt: 21, 24-27

The Lord, the Rock:

The Word today presents to us the image of the Rock! And invites us to reflect on the Rock of our lives.

The Rock is solid, unshaken and strong. The Lord is solid hope, unshaken by circumstances and strong by our side. The Lord is not swayed by moods as we humans are. The ways of the Lord are just! Justice reigns where God reigns.The foundation of the peace that the Lord gives is not compromise but Justice.

The Rock is stable, supporting and still. The Lord is a stable foundation, who supports and sustains our very existence and is patient and still allowing our ways. Imagine if the Lord were impatient with us and prone to reacting to our ways...can we stand our ground? We are alive because we are sustained by the endless patience of the Lord.

The Rock is peaceful, calm and unperturbed. The Lord is the source of our peace in this troubled world, someone unchanging on whom we can rely. The Lord is calm and unperturbed that our childish ways and imprudent lives do not move the Lord to action instantly. The Lord is unperturbed and allows every madness that is going on; even those who deny the Lord standing right over Him; even those who fight against the Lord pitching their battle right over him: the ground on which everything lives and moves!

The Lord is our Rock, and we would do well today to accept it and fine tune our ways to the ways of the Lord!

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE #3

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER -THE MISSIONARY OF THE MILLENNIUM

3 Messages that Francis Xavier can teach us from the Word today:

1. GO TO THE ENDS

I saw one picture of Francis Xavier holding his heart in his hands and the heart burning! A perfect image for this great missionary who not only dared to go to the ends of the world, but yearned to.

2. PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

Proclaiming the Gospel, as Paul would say, for Francis Xavier was a God-given duty, not merely his fancy hobby. That is the reason for the zeal and the dedication. Today we are called to proclaim too, as a duty! But let us take the inspiration from the other Francis, the one from Assisi: 'Proclaim the Gospel always; use words when necessary!'

3. SEEK GOD BEFORE EVERYTHING

What would a person profit, if he gained the whole world, but lost his soul! That was the Word that shook Francis Xavier towards sanctity, a sanctity which is so concretely  observed even today in his exposed remains! Can we just sit down and list out today, how many things are rated before God as priorities in our lives...may be we will do well to work on that list and reduce the number of precedents. 

HAPPY FEAST OF THIS MISSIONARY OF THE MILLENNIUM. 

MAY FRANCIS XAVIER FILL US WITH THE ZEAL THAT HE HAD.

WORD 2day: 2nd December, 2014

A Child's traits for the Reign
Is  11: 1-10; Lk 10: 21 -24

Lion sleeping with the lamb, bear playing with a kid and all peaceful on the holy mount- when we read these lines,  we feel like saying,  it's utopian; it's like a child's dream! Precisely because of this Jesus makes that exclamation today: that the Father has revealed such things to mere children while the expert eyes are busy prying over the obvious.

The Child's capacity underlined here by Christ and advocated as required traits for the persons of the Reign, are threefold. Firstly,  it is to see! Having that freshness of perception which would allow the person to observe any simple sign.  Secondly,  it is to accept! Sporting that openness of mind that would not rule out any thing as total impossibility,  because with God everything is possible. Thirdly, the humility with which one is able to wait on the Lord, as did the kings and the prophets who waited for the day of the Lord.

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE #2

WORD 2day: 1st December, 2014

Monday, First week of Advent 

Is 2: 1-5; Mt 8: 5-11

Compare these two sayings from the first reading and the Gospel respectively: "Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord"(Is 2:3) versus "I will come and cure you"(Mt 8:7)... it is in fact an integral part of the new paradigm of revelation that begins with Jesus' coming. We are today reminded of the incarnational paradigm of our faith! From a state where we were expected to go in search of God, we arrive at a state where the Lord comes in search of us. 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us' (Jn 1: 14). 

What should our disposition be: the centurion teaches us! It should be one of humility, readiness to change and a eagerness to experience the transforming grace of God. That exactly is what Advent is all about!

To look at ourselves in humility, to be willing to alter our perspectives and priorities and to long and yearn for a closer encounter with the Lord are the directions that should take us forward this Advent.

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE #1

W.A.T.C.H.

1st Sunday of Advent: 30th November, 2014

Is 63: 16B-17, 19, 64:2-7; 1 Cor 1: 3-9; Mk 13: 33-37

Happy New Year! This Sunday marks the first day of the New Liturgical Year that we begin. This Sunday also marks, by the wish of our Holy Father Pope Francis, the beginning of the Year of Consecrated Life (30 Nov, 2014 - 02 Feb, 2016). On this beautiful and happy day, we begin a fresh journey and the first phase is going to be a preparation to receive the King! And what does the Word say, right at the outset? It says: WATCH.

W: Wake Up

It is a moment to wake up! The call to wake up rings all over the readings today. Let us get in touch with an ordinary experience of our's. Which is difficult: to wake up from sleep or to decide to get up from bed. We wake up, but not really; the sleep lingers on! That is a risky terrain, we miss a lot in that zone! Hence the call is to wake up; to decide to get up, shake oneself up, open one's eyes fully and see that it is time to begin, time to journey on, time to start again.

A: Awaken Others

Your life is not lived alone! Your faith has to be lived in communion, in relationships of love and unity. Awakening each other is a special call that is given to us, but it requires that we are awake. I remember some times when we used share rooms as seminarians, there will be one of us who has the responsibility to wake up the one who has to use the toilets and the bathing rooms first. The person will wake up the concerned person half asleep and go back to sleep till his own turn comes to use the toilets and the bathing rooms! Funny, but that is sometimes how we awaken others; we ourselves half asleep! That does not work. That is why the Holy Father has called the persons living their Consecrated Life, TO WAKE UP THE WORLD. It would first of all mean they (we) wake themselves up, reach out to the others and share the experience of being awake and thus make the whole humanity awakened! Advent is also the time to call out to each other, remind each other and journey together.

T: Thirst for the Lord

The first reading presents us a model of thirsting for the coming of the Lord. The prophet yearns for God's coming and wishes that it happens right away. In various ways he expresses the longing for the Lord, the Father, the Potter to come and shepherd us, protect us and mould us. The thirst for God has to be expressed in our concrete seeking for the Lord. We need to seek the Lord, on a daily basis: in those who are around us, in the situations that surround us, in anxious faces and hungry stomachs, in hearts longing for love those darkened with hatred...we are to dig deep and look for the face of the Lord! He is coming; indeed He has come! It is upto us to unveil the Lord's presence amidst us.

C: Cleanse yourself

To seek the Lord, it goes without saying, is a moment of cleansing, a moment of self purification. It is only through this purification that we can really get to see the Lord. The Lord is near and we need to feel the urgency of purifying ourselves. What a gift we have in these four weeks, if only we use them to the full! Pick up one element a week and begin working on them; report the progress to the Lord  at the end of the week and start on another element in the new week! That would be a great journey and that is the journey of self purification that the Lord invites us to.

H: Hold firm to the Lord

In the second reading, St. Paul hits the nail on its head: 'God is faithful', he declares! Yes, in our yearning to behold the revelation of Lord Jesus Christ in our own life and in our times, God is faithful. The point is we need to hold firm to the Lord. Perseverance is a rare virtue. We are good willed, and spirit filled...but for only a while. That would surely not suffice. We need to persevere in our good will, we need to hold on to the choice for the Lord, we cannot give up even when we face  all the possible odds. Let us stay firm and hold on to the Lord and the Lord will see us through all moments of crisis and confusion.

We begin a journey today, to WATCH.to Wake up, to Awaken, to Thirst, to Cleanse and to Hold on to the Lord who is to come. Let us embark upon this journey, together as a community of loving people, and feel close to each other and feel the Lord close to us. The Lord's words resound today in the Gospel: What shall I say to you, I say to all: WATCH.